Television

Monday, July 4, 2016

Gun owners stockpiling drives historic highs in gun purchases

The percent of American households owning guns is at a
near-40 year low in the latest CBS News poll released this month, but the number of gun purchases are at historic highs, reported the Washington Post.

According to the survey, which was conducted among 1,001
Americans in the aftermath of the Orlando nightclub shooting, 36 percent of
U.S. adults either own a firearm personally, or live with someone who
does. That's the lowest rate of gun ownership in the CBS poll going back to
1978. It's down 17 points from the highest recorded rate in 1994, and nearly 10
percentage points from 2012.

Different national polls tend to show slightly different
rates of gun ownership. The latest household gun ownership rate in the General
Social Survey, in 2014, was 32 percent. The October 2015 Gallup survey showed a higher rate
of 43 percent, including guns kept on property outside the home.

But gun purchases, as measured by FBI firearm background
checks, are at historic highs. And data from the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms shows that gun manufacturers are churning out record numbers of guns. Many gun rights advocates argue that these figures mean that the overall
number of gun owners is growing: If more guns are being sold, more people must
be owning guns.

But the declining rates of gun ownership across three major
national surveys suggest a different explanation: that most of the rise in
gun purchases is driven by existing gun owners stocking up, rather than by
people buying their first gun. A Washington Post analysis last year found that
the average American gun owner now owns approximately eight firearms, double the number in
the 1990s.

Other research bears this out as well. A 2004 survey found
that the average gun owner owned 6.6 firearms, and that the top 3
percent of gun owners owned about 25 guns each. More recently, a CBS News poll
taken in March of this year found that roughly 1 in 5 gun owners owned 10 guns or more.

About Matt

An analysis of crime and punishment from the perspective of a former prosecutor and current criminal justice practitioner.
The views expressed on this blog are solely those of the author and do not reflect the opinions or postions of any county, state or federal agency.